What I’ve learned about Financial Tests and Trials

Today I want to talk about financial tests and trials. Economists can talk about how many jobs are created from one quarter to the next. But what you read an article or hear on television can seem like it’s a world the way compared to where you live. You buy groceries from week to week, put gas in the car, pay insurance premiums, bills and so forth. You know what your own economy is like from first-hand experience, isn’t that true?

You also know what it’s like right now for friends and family members. The phrase, “things are tough all over,” seems to apply to the time were living in.

Personally, I know what it’s like to use things sparingly. I’ve experienced what it’s like to live from month-to-month wondering what tomorrow might bring.

I also know what it’s like to look to God from the heart with everything I have.

It says in Matthew 7:7

Matthew 7:7 AKJV
(7)  Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you:

 

Scriptures like this give you hope. But it also says in Proverbs 13:12 –

Proverbs 13:12 AKJV
(12)  Hope deferred makes the heart sick: but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.

Sometimes it looks like things are getting better, but then something bad happens. Something unforeseen takes place. It’s something you were prepared for… and when it happens it basically takes the wind out of your sails.

That’s what happens when hope is deferred. It makes the heart sick.

Let me share with you a few things to help you if you’re at this place in your life. First of all, settle it in your heart that God isn’t your problem. What I mean by that is, God isn’t the author – so to speak, of financial suffering. He’s the author of salvation. There’s a big difference and one doesn’t overlap the other. They are as different as light is from darkness and night is from day.

I’ve come to understand in my personal experience (not just theology) that God does work all things together for good. But that doesn’t mean that God causes evil so that good can come from it. If that were so Romans 3:7-8 would’ve never been written. It says –

Romans 3:7-8 AKJV
(7)  For if the truth of God has more abounded through my lie to his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?
(8)  And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.

Notice the eighth verse. If we do evil and that evil causes good to come (as though with some kind of universal balance) why would we still be judged for sinning? Why would we be judged sinners? If you continue on along that same line of thought… why would the devil and the fallen angels be judged if doing evil cause good to come?

And yet some people believe that evil is occurring in their life so they can learn something good from it?

The truth is stated very clearly in John 10:10.

John 10:10 AKJV
(10)  The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Satan is the thief. He’s the one that takes away the good things from your life. When I say “Satan,” I realize there is only one fallen angel named Lucifer… but there are many other evil entities and spirits that work beneath his headship or rule. In the same way there are many angels that work under the authority of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

It’s really important for you to grasp this. I’m talking about grasping once and for all the difference between light and darkness, good and evil.

You can find yourself wondering, “Is this my fault?”

“Am I the cause of this?”

If you look at your life you don’t have to look too hard to realize you’re not perfect. We all continue to fall short of perfection.

1 John 1:8 AKJV
(8)  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

That verse was written by the Apostle John who was known as the disciple Jesus loved. The truth enables you to see things as they truly are. We all have some sin in our lives on this side of eternity. None of us loves our neighbor as we love ourselves 100% of the time, do we?

Hosea 4:6 AKJV
(6)  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you

Again we see the picture where destruction takes place. To be destroyed, defeated, cast down and so forth – these things happen because there’s a thief in the earth. Jesus revealed God the Father to his disciples… but they had problems just like we do today receiving the truth in our hearts. When Jesus said, “The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy,” he was revealing the true character and nature of Satan and the beings that serve him.

Likewise, when he stated, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly,” He was revealing the nature of not just himself – but of God, His Father.

Jesus said, “If you’ve seen me you’ve seen the Father.” (John 14:9).

So on one hand we have the truth of the Bible and on the other – our personal experiences.

In the midst of a financial trial I find myself asking the question, “What am I doing wrong? What can I change? How come God doesn’t seem to be helping me?”

Believe me, I understand the frustration that comes with prolonged experiences in the desert. The Israelites wandered through the desert for 40 years. That’s a lifetime from where I’m sitting. Hebrews 3:19 says they entered not into the promised land because of their unbelief. In plain English, the answer didn’t manifest in their personal experience because of their unbelief. Only two people, Joshua and Caleb, entered into the promised land.

A lot of preachers today might break down the situation and look at it in the terms of faith and unbelief as they understand those particular topics. I’m not going to pretend I understand how everything works. That just isn’t the case. But I do understand some things that have really helped me in a practical way. For example,

Matthew 6:24-30 AKJV
(24)  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
(25)  Therefore I say to you, Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
(26)  Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they?
(27)  Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature?
(28)  And why take you thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
(29)  And yet I say to you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
(30)  Why, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Hebrews 13:5 AKJV
(5)  Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as you have: for he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.

1 Timothy 6:5-10 AKJV
(5)  Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw yourself.
(6)  But godliness with contentment is great gain.
(7)  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
(8)  And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
(9)  But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
(10)  For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

There are people who covet things who are rich and there are people who covet things who are broke. In both cases, it’s a state of a person’s heart that’s the focus.

Over time I’ve learned how to simplify my life. I’ve learned how to be grateful for what I have, even if it’s not the shiniest, biggest or best of its kind. All the glitters definitely isn’t gold. In the past if I had a little money left over I’d look at it and say within myself, “That could be wiped out in the blink of an eye.”

Honestly, that kind of thinking makes life miserable. I look at how much money you have, anything can be wiped out. Isn’t that true?

Your security has to be in God if you don’t want to live a fearful existence. I’ve learned that my tomorrow’s are in God’s hands not mine. I’ve also learned the you have to look to God first, not other people. In other words, you can’t put your faith in anything or anyone on this earth as being your deliverer.

God wants you to have a direct relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. That’s the whole Gospel message. We can have peace with God and all the benefits that come as a result of that.

In Mark 4:35 you can read the story about Jesus stilling the storm. Right before he did, his disciples awoke him and asked, “Don’t you care that we are perishing?”

Maybe you feel like that? You know how the story ends though, don’t you? Jesus rebuked the wind and the waves and the storm was stopped. His response to them was, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”

If I were there, maybe I could answer the question? Maybe I would’ve said, “I thought maybe God wasn’t happy us? Or, “I didn’t realize we had the authority to stop the storm in your name. I was waiting for you to do it.”

The point is, we all think the same things from time to time when bad things happen. We wonder if we deserve it. How do we know?

The whole point of the cross is – we don’t deserve anything… meaning, we can’t earn blessings the way a worker earns a wage by trading hours for service. God’s blessings are free through Jesus. What we can do is correct our attitude and judge the intents of our hearts.

If we covet something another person has, we can stop getting bogged down and move forward in life.

Hebrews 12:1-3 AKJV
(1)  Why seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
(2)  Looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
(3)  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds.

So today, I look around me and I see I have food to eat. I will have clothes to wear and a car to drive. I have a business that helps other businesses online I looking to take the things God has given me and do the right  things – things that matter in my lifetime (like encouraging you so you can encourage someone else.)

So that’s it for now. Be encouraged and thanks for reading.